Chelsea Still In Talks With Eden Hazard

Real Madrid Wait In The Wings

Chelsea are still in talks over a new deal for Eden Hazard. The Belgium international is out of contract at the end of next season and is a transfer target for Real Madrid.

But French newspaper Le 10 Sport claims the Blues haven’t given up hope of persuading the Belgium international to put pen to paper on a new contract at Stamford Bridge.

Real Madrid have yet to put a formal offer to the 28-year-old but are expected to do so at the end of the season.

Chelsea are currently facing a two-window transfer ban over the illegal signing of players under the age of 18. Fifa imposed the ban last month after finding the west London club guilty of contravening rules on the cross-border movement of under-age players. The ban is due to begin with this summer’s transfer window which means the Blues would be unable to sign a replacement for Hazard until the end of next season.

Chelsea have already announced that they will lodge an appeal against the ban. If a direct appeal to Fifa fails to have the ban overturned then are likely to take their case to the Court Of Arbitration For Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Real Madrid have already served a transfer ban for the same reason as Chelsea. However, they were successful in getting their ban reduced to one window meaning they were prevented from signing any new players in January 2017. Given that they rarely sign players in the winter it means they got off relatively unscathed. Their local rivals Atletico Madrid had to serve a two-window ban around the same time.

One other Premier League club is believed to be under investigation over the signing of under-age players.